Another New Ambulance Sets Itself On Fire

Takes The Rescue Station With It

SELF-STARTING ENGINE FIRES in recently-purchased ambulances is a continuing problem that popped up again Tuesday. This time in Knightstown, Indiana, where the Southwest District Ambulance Service has had a two-bay station serving Henry County.

One of their ambulances which was parked inside started burning in the engine compartment and quickly got out of control before the FD arrived. The fire got into the attic, then the roof which collapsed and the entire building was lost.

EMS Chief Bill Windsor said he had pulled the ambulance out to clean it earlier in the morning, but it had been parked and turned off inside the ambulance bay for about 15 minutes when the fire was spotted. Another EMS member was inside the building and saw the smoke.

"He kept going over to our ambulance bay. When he got over there, the new ambulance that we got in November was dripping fire out from underneath the cab portion of it," Windsor said. "He said he hurriedly called 911 and got the fire department started."

Nine neighboring fire departments arrived to help the fire, many of them providing a tanker shuttle from the nearby town to provide water in the non-hydrant area.

Indianapolis Star

We have not yet learned the make, model and year of the offending cab-and-chassis. If we do, it will be updated here.